Projects
Introduction
Pipeline Research Limited has been involved in a number of
exciting projects, mainly in the Multi- or Dual Diameter areas, over the past year:
These projects are described in outline below.
Åsgard Operational 28" x 42" Pig Development
(Introduction)
The 42" Åsgard Transport pipeline runs some 684km from Åsgard B Platform to the landfall
site at Kalstø, Rogaland, Norway. The ERB (Export Riser Base) consists of 28" pipe with four 14"
risers from the platform. The 28" pipe runs 500m and then expands to 42".
The RFO (Ready For Operation) pig developed in 1999 was run from the land fall site to the
receiver on the ERB, ie 684km of 42" line reducing down to 28" for the last 500m. The RFO
pigging tasks involved waterfilling the pipeline for hydrotest and dewatering with a glycol
train.
Therefore the pig needed to be able to: -
reduce from 42" to 28", whilst keeping the dP to a minimum in the 28" line; provide the best possible seal along the entire pipeline.
Based on this the Asgard RFO Pig was developed, using: -
FTL Seals Technology Limited suspension design which keeps the pig exactly on the centreline of the pipeline; Normal disc type seals, but with Buckle inducers to allow the seals to fold up into the 28"
line. This was based on our previous work on unheaval buckling and in conjunction with Arne
Vingerhagen, Jim Cordell and Chris Kershaw.
Note that the supporting function and the sealing function have been essentially separated
here. This provided Statoil with an excellent dewatering run in the line with the lowest ever
measured volume of water in glycol: -
This year we are looking at using these same pigs for the operational case in the opposite
direction (28" up to 42" in gas). The issues are recovery of seals after permanent set and
compressible effects at the expansion to 42" due to the sudden drop in friction.
Conceptual Design of Flowloop
(Introduction)
RST Projects Limited in Musselburgh, Edinburgh required to build a test loop for testing their
pig data logger, the SAAM unit. Pipeline Research Limited was contracted to provide a
conceptual design of the facility based on previous experience with testing and with such
facilities. A concept was devised; initial sources of components were sourced and passed to
RST Projects for implementation.
Norne Heidrun 10" x 16" Pig Development
(Introduction)
The Norne Heidrun pipeline runs 160km from Norne to Heidrun in a flow bundle. Initially,
the pig is launched vertically into a 10" riser, for about 1km. Exit from the riser connector,
into 10" x 16" expansion section, through a check valve and through and wye piece. In addition
there was a 5D bend on the 16" line. The challenge was to come up with a suitable pig and
sealing system to allow dewatering with Glycol on this pipeline.The main challenges were: -
Overcoming the permanent set in the seals and allowing expansion from 10" to 16" with out
loss of seal...solution provided by Pipeline Research Limited; Correct design of the seal to allow buckling in 10" and full seal in the 16"...Solution
provided by Pipeline Research Limited; Negotiating the 16" wye and the 16" bends (one demands a long pig, the other a shortened
down pig).
Besides providing the basic sealing solution for this pig that fixed the pig body dimensions
from an early stage, Pipeline Research Limited are involved in the testing of the pig at Kårstø
in Norway. Thanks to the correct seal selection at the outset, this became a matter of
optimising from an early stage.
Gullfaks Gas Export Phase II 11" X 12" X 14" Pig
(Introduction)
The Gullfaks Satellites Phase II pig development was a fast track Multidiameter pig
development for Statoil. This demanded that in order to short track the testing, the right
components were required to be on site when testing begun so that the correct solution could
be converged on. Pipeline Research Limited provided the design of the main 14" sealing disks
that were again design to buckle in the smaller lines and seal correctly in the 14" line.
Additionally, modeling of the pig as a whole in the 14" line allowed a stable pig to be
developed. We have since learned that this pig has been used successfully in the
pre-commissioning of this pipeline.
Kvitebjorn Pig Feasibility Study
(Introduction)
Study into the feasibility of using dual diameter pigs to pre-commission the planned Kvitebjorn
pipeline. The pigs are also required to operationally pig the line, and to act as batching pigs
for the inspection pigging of the line.
A base case dual module pig was proposed for the job. Several challenges were addressed such as the
compressible effect at the expansion between the two line sizes, design criteria for the connector
between the two modules and wear/permanent set of the seals after negotiating the small
diameter pipeline.
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